Sick of Taxes? Evidence on the Elasticity of Labor Supply When Workers are Free to Choose

Research output: Working paperResearch

  • Jan Martin Ljunge
I estimate a price elasticity of sickness absence. Sick leave is an intensive margin of labor supply where individuals are free to adjust. I exploit variation in tax rates over two decades, which provide thousands of differential incentives across time and space, to estimate the price responsiveness. High taxes provide an incentive to take more sick leave, as less after tax income is lost when taxes are high. The panel data, which is representative of the Swedish population, allow for extensive controls including unobserved individual characteristics. I find a substantial price elasticity of sick leave, -0.7, with respect to the net of tax rate. Though large relative to traditional labor supply elasticities, Swedes are half as price elastic as bike messengers, and just as elastic as stadium vendors on the margin which they can adjust freely.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherDepartment of Economics, University of Copenhagen
Number of pages38
Publication statusPublished - 2011

ID: 35373153